1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method for anticipating memory exhaustion in data processing systems. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a computer implemented method, apparatus, and a computer usable program product for anticipating memory exhaustion in an open services gateway initiative (OSGi) environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Memory leak is a problem plaguing most data processing systems. A memory leak is an unintentional failure to dereference discarded objects so that the garbage collector of the data processing system cannot reclaim the memory for other uses. Diagnosing memory leaks is a daunting and time consuming task. Applications, application surfers, and entire data processing systems can hang, crash, or suffer other malfunctions due to a slow decline of free memory available. In the case of JAVA™ applications, the decline of free JAVA™ heap space can result in hang, crash, or other problems associated with the JAVA™ applications. Additionally, memory leaks are often to blame for decline in application server performance and overall system performance. Additionally, problems with memory leaks are one of the top time consuming issues in any product support.
Currently available tools for dealing with memory leaks only offer after-the-fact analysis and diagnostics. However, without knowing when memory exhaustion will occur, often no warning is provided to an end user before system degradation or system hang or crash occurs. For this reason, often no appropriate action is taken prior to an entire system or application crashing.